Waiting for Maia
by SinginPrincess
Summary: Denna and Dennee are stuck in a strange world. There is nothing to do. And so, they wait for Maia.


**Author's Note: **This is written in the style of Beckett's _"Waiting for Godot"_. It is meant to be somewhat funny (and completely absurd!) but whether or not I've achieved that objective is up to you ;)

* * *

Her fingers had grown numb. Her numerous attempts to release her feet from the grip of her long leather boots were to no avail. No matter how hard she pulled, they would not come off. It were as though they had melded into her skin. Her last attempt sent her backwards, falling in a lying position. She let out a long sigh and looked up towards the void which should have been the sky. No less than a minute later, she sat back up and began to tug at her boots again.

Moments later, she could see Dennee walking towards her. She removed her hands from her feet and sighed again. "Nothing. Nothing can be done."

"I just may be beginning to believe that. For years I've told myself that couldn't possibly be true. I'd say to myself, no Dennee, that can't be true. You have yet to try everything." She looked down at her friend, sitting on the ground in her deep red leather outfit, hands on her boots. "Well," she sighed, "here you are, here we are again."

Denna looked up at her strange companion, expressionless.

"I was sure you'd gone forever."

"And I, you." Denna replied blankly.

"Reunited at last! No longer alone, we're together again, finally. Stand up so we can hug!"

"No way. I despise affectionate embraces."

"We hugged last night…"

"No, we didn't. We were not together last night."

"I'm sure we were. You were in pain, so we hugged."

"We did not. You must have been dreaming." Denna glared.

"I was not! Or…was I? It's hard to be sure. Perhaps it was the day before. Or a dream…or…" She paused a moment, "where did you spend the night?"

Denna shrugged. "In a cave."

"A Cave? Where?" Dennee seemed worried.

"That cave over there." Denna said, without pointing in any direction at all.

"And they didn't come after you this time?"

"Come after me?" Denna seemed confused.

"Chase you. Agiel you. Torture you. Etcetera." Dennee explained.

"Of course they did!"

"Was it the Sisters again?"

"The Sisters? I don't know."

Dennee shook her head with a sigh. "We've been together for 7 years, and you know what I've come to discover? If it weren't for me, if you were here all alone… You would be nothing. You would not have survived so long."

"And?"

She looked down and spoke softly, "It's just too much." Silence overcame the two women for a moment. Then, suddenly, Dennee smiled and looked up excitedly, "But there's no reason to give up hope. One day… One day it'll…We should have thought of it sooner!"

"Would you quit blabbering, and help me with this?" Denna growled, fumbling with her boots again.

"Do you remember the old days? Agiel to dagger. It was bliss. But this. The way we've become, they wouldn't allow us to return, even if we could."

Denna pulled out one of her agiels and started hitting her boot with it.

"What are you doing?" Dennee asked.

"Taking off my boot. Have you never seen someone taking off their boots?"

"How many times must I tell you? You must remove them every day." Dennee let out an annoyed sigh. "Why don't you ever listen to me?"

Denna threw her head back and kicked her feet. "Help me!"

"Does it hurt?"

"Does it hurt! The Confessor wants to know if it hurts!" Denna shouted, "I feel nothing. Everything hurts!"

"You're a Mord'Sith. Pain is never your enemy. If only you knew the pain I feel."

"Does it hurt?"

"Ha! Does it hurt! The Mord'Sith wants to know if it hurts!"

"Are you going to help me? Or do I have to make you?" she said, pointing her agiel at her friend.

Dennee knelt down, reached into her boots, and took out her daggers. The blades were dull and short. She placed one of them behind her ear, to cling in her long dark hair. While she swung the other dagger around slowly, as if it had some sort of purpose. Denna, on the other hand, continued in her attempts to remove her boots. Finally she began tugging at the laces. Dennee brought her dagger up to eye level to examine it. She traced her fingers along the dull blade, as if expecting to find something within it. Denna having finally managed to loosen the laces, pulled hard at her boot, and with a vengeful force, she was sent backwards as she finally managed to remove the boot from her foot.

"Nothing." Dennee sighs, "There's nothing we can do."

Denna sat back up and picked up her boot. She then proceeded to examine the long blood-stained boot. Strangely, she found nothing, not even a smell. Finally, she threw the boots to the side with a sigh.

"Nothing." She whispered.

"Well," Dennee looked down at her friend.

"Well?" Denna echoed her comment.

"Aren't you going to put them back on?"

"What?"

"Your boots."

"My boobs? You can take those off?" Denna's eyes grew wide for no more than a second.

"No…maybe. No… I don't know."

Denna stared down at her body and then looked back up to her friend in the white dress.

"What was I saying?"

"We weren't playing anything."

"Oh! Right. Your boots. Put them back on."

"I never took them off."

"You did."

"Did what?"

"Take off your boots."

"I did." Denna's eyes glanced towards the red boots which now lay on the ground a few feet away.

Silence fell upon the two women for a while. Denna sat playing with her agiel, while Dennee traced her fingers over the dull blade of her dagger.

Finally, Denna stood. Limping she walked right past Dennee.

"DenDen! Where are you going?"

Denna turned to face her White-dressed friend, and placed her agiel under her chin. She shrugged.

"Where are you going?"

"Come with me."

"I can't. We can't!"

"Can't what?"

"Leave."

"Why?"

"Because we have to wait."

"For what?"

"For Maia."

"Oh. Are you sure?"

"We have to wait." Dennee stated simply.

"We have to wait." Denna repeated.

"Do you remember the story?"

"Why would you be sorry?"

"About how the Mord'Sith and Confessors became enemies."

"No."

"I could tell it to you. It's sad. We used to be allies."

"No."

"We once fought side by side and then…"

"Stop. I don't want to hear it."

"Then the Lady Rahl came along and…"

"No! Stop! I don't want to hear it!"

"And she ruined us. She turned us against –"

"I'm leaving." Denna stood, but her legs had no intention of actually moving anywhere.

"You can't leave! We have to wait."

"Oh. Right… Are you sure this is where we were supposed to wait?"

"Yes…no…Yes! Yes I'm sure."

"How?"

"What?"

"How are you sure?"

"The roses! She said to wait by the roses."

"Roses? Where?"

"Over there." Dennee said, without raising a finger or gesturing in any direction at all.

"Oh. Those aren't roses. They're daisies."

"Daisies?" Dennee scrunched her nose and squinted her eyes, "no, those are roses!"

"Daisies."

"Roses!"

"A Cactus!"

"A Rose bush."

"A pine tree!"

"Those are roses, DenDen! Roses! See, they're blue and – what are you trying to say anyways? That we're waiting in the wrong place?"

"No, I never said that."

"Said what?"

"She should be here."

"She never said she would be here for sure."

"And yet, we wait?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Nothing more to do."

"Nothing."

The two women stood silent, awkwardly staring at one another.

"Well," Denna broke the silence. "What now?"

"We wait."

"Have I really?"

"What?"

"Gained weight." Denna traced her hands over her thin belly.

"Yes. No. Maybe. Does it matter?"

"Probably not." She paused. "Has it really been that long?"

"What?"

"You said we'd been together for ten years. I thought it was only five."

"Yes, three years is a long time."

"It is." Denna sat down on the ground.

"It is." Dennee repeated. She then took out her dagger again and began twirling it around between her fingers. Denna, in the meantime, had managed to drift off into sleep. Dennee paced on the spot for a moment, but then, when she'd realized her friend had fallen asleep, her heart began to race and she panicked. "DenDen… DenDen? DenDen! Wake up! _DENDEN!_"

Denna woke up with a jump. "What? DeeDee! I was sleeping! You never let me sleep."

"I was lonely. Any longer and I might sing that song!"

"Song? What song?"

"The one about being alone. You know."

"Oh! No! That's dangerous."

"It is!"

"Do you want to hear about my dream? It was about –"

"No! Keep it to yourself."

"It was about –"

"KEEP IT TO YOURSELF!"

"That's not fair, DeeDee. You wake me up, but you won't allow me to share my nightmares with you?"

"Just keep them for yourself!"

"Maybe we should go our separate ways. Split up." She sighed.

"It wouldn't last long."

"That's a shame. Do you remember that story?" Denna asked, "The one about your sister."

"Yes."

"Will you tell it to me?"

"No."

"The Mord'Sith had her surrounded. And she, having already confessed one had become exhausted and… Finish it. Come on, DeeDee. You tell it best."

"Ugh! Stop it, DenDen. Just STOP IT!" finally Dennee had had enough, so she turned around and ran away. Denna tried to follow her, but something held her back, so she just looked down and sighed.

Minutes later, Dennee had returned, gasping for breath. She walked right past Denna and began to play with her dagger again.

"DeeDee…" Denna approached her friend cautiously. "DeeDee… Have I upset you? I'm sorry. DeeDee…"

"I'm not talking to you!"

"Oh, come on DeeDee. I'm sorry." Denna stepped forward and placed a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder. "Don't be upset with me, please. DeeDee. Come on, we can talk. Or… Let's hug. I'll let you embrace me. It'll be… _sweet_."

Dennee seemed to contemplate the idea. She enjoyed hugs. But… she was still too upset.

"Come on DeeDee, hug me!"

Dennee was hesitant, but finally, she collapsed in her friends arms. The feel of the sticky leather against the soft white fabric of her dress felt… refreshing.

"You smell," _good_, she thought.

"It's the roses. They smell strange."

"Mmm, yeah." Denna pulled out of the embrace and looked blandly at her friend.

"What do we do now?"

"We wait."

"Aw, yes. But what shall we do while we wait?"

"Hmm. Well, we could agiel ourselves to death."

"But the agiel hurts. I could confess you. That would be faster."

"Perhaps. But then, you would be all alone. You can't confess yourself."

"Oh, right. Well, I have my daggers. I could use them!"

"But…what if they don't work? Then you'd be ALONE!"

"Oh…then I would have to sing that song…" Dennee sighed.

"Exactly!" Denna took out her agiels with a grin. "But if I agieled you, and then myself…"

"But what if I died and you forgot to do it to yourself?"

"Hmm...Well, that's what the Breath of Life is for. Right? So if I change my mind, I'll bring you back."

"But what if you forget!"

"Hmm… it would be sad. Then _I_ would have to sing that song. And I don't like singing."

"Exactly."

"Right. Well…"

"Maybe we could do it at the same time? Then it's sure to work!"

"We could?"

"You could agiel me, and I'd confess you."

"Oh! Brilliant! That could work!"

"But then…we don't know. What if one works faster than the other."

"Then the other would be alone."

"And have to sing that song."

"Right. That song."

"Ouch."

"Well, we could try it. Just to see?"

"We could."

"We shall."

The two sat next to one another, examining their weapons. Neither of them had any intention of actually following through with their plan. So there they sat. Once again. Waiting.

"What now, DeeDee?"

"We wait."

"For what?"

"For Maia."

"Who's Maia?"

"You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Maia. The one we're waiting for."

"Maia. I do. I do remember…"

"You do! Good. Now, we wait."

"We wait? For what."

"For Maia. We must wait."

"Right. Wait for Maia."

"She will come."

"She will?"

"Yes…Maybe…I don't know."

"Does it matter?"

"Probably not."

"And?"

"And so, we wait."

"Yes. Nothing else can be done."

"Nothing. Nothing more to do."


End file.
